Chelsea knock out Atletico Madrid to progress to Women’s Champions League quarter-final

Atletico Madrid 1-1 Chelsea: A second-leg draw sends the WSL side through 3-1 on aggregate

(Getty Images)

Chelsea held Atletico Madrid to a second-leg draw to earn passage to the last eight of the Women’s Champions League.

The English side had earned a 2-0 win on home soil last week to put themselves in a commanding position and duly finished the job in the away leg, played in Monza, Italy.

They are likely to be joined by fellow Women’s Super League side Manchester City in the quarter-finals, with City three goals up from their own first leg against Fiorentina, with the second leg to be played on Thursday.

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Chelsea kept Atletico at bay for most of the second leg - though owed a debt to Atletico’s Toni Duggan, who hit the bar with a penalty, after the Spanish side had seen two spot-kicks saved in the first leg.

Emma Hayes’ side killed the tie off only minutes later with a penalty of their own from Maren Mjelde - who also netted from the spot in the first leg - with around a quarter of an hour to play.

Atletico did finally respond with a stoppage-time goal from Emelyne Laurent, but a 3-1 aggregate success means the 2019/20 WSL winners go through in style.

Chelsea reached the semi-finals in 17/18 and 18/19 and are top of the WSL table after 16 matches, two points ahead of Man City after a weekend win over West Ham.

The draw for the last eight of the Women’s Champions League takes place on Friday, with the first leg of that round set to be played across 23/24 March.